Roofing fabric and method of preparing same.



No. 690,348. v Patented nec. 3l, 1901.l

` C. S. BIRD. L

RUUFING FABRIC AND METHOD 0F PREPARING SAME.

(Application med oct. 25, 1961.) (No Model.)

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ILT- L Mill" UNITED STATES PATENT`4 OFFICE.

CHARLES S. BIRD, OF IV-ALPOLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

ROOFING FABRIC AND`METHOD OF PREPARIING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,348, dated December 31, 1901.

Application filed October 25, 1901.

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES S. BIRD,of Walpole, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in'Roong Fabrics and the Method of Preparing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

Itis my object, primarily, to produce a roofing fabric which will not be liable to buckle after it has been applied to and secured in place on the roof or other part to be covered and protected by it.

When the ordinary rooting-paper is applied to a roof and secured in place by fastening down its sides to the roof in the usual way, its exposure in that shape and under those conditions to the weather and to atmospheric influences will have the effect of causing it to buckle. This buckling, so far as I have been able to ascertain, is due to its absorption of moisture, whereby it is caused to expand. A slight percentage of moisture thus absorbed will cause buckles or ridges to appear all over the roof. If the weather be such as to allow a larger percentage of moisture to get into the material, then the buckles and ridges will be even worse. The buckling is highly disadvantageous, not only in that it makes the roof-covering unsightly, but because -it results in the formation of shallow cups or dishes, which will retain water, and' the latter will nally soak through, with the result of rendering the roof leaky. Under my invention this liability of the roofing fabric to buckle is removed, and by the mode of treatment employed by me to this end I find that the fabric itself is rendered stronger and less liable to tear.

To attain the result I have in view, I first treat the fabric with waterproofing materials or compounds in any known or approved way for producing a waterproof roofing fabric, and I then subject the thus-prepared fabric to the action of water, either in the form of liquid or vapor or steam, which will be taken up and absorbed by the prepared paper, with the effect of causing its expansion in the roll or prepared state and before its application for roofing purposes. The waterproofed fabric thus treated with water will retain its moisture indefinitely under ordinary conditions. It will not buckle when applied tothe Serial N0. 80,024- I (No specimens.)

roof, because by the treatment to which it has been subjected it has been brought to and is maintained at what practically is its eX- pansion limit under usual conditions, and it is stronger than waterproof paper which has not been water-treated. The percentage of water thus put into the paper may vary toa considerable extent, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to any special percentage. I may say, however, that from two to eight per cent. of the weight of the paper would be the practical limits of the quantity of moisture to be put into Waterproof paper of ordinary description, although even less than two per cent. would be a benefit, and in practice in the commercial manufacture of the article the quantity of moisture vwhich I usually put into the paper is from` three to ive per cent. ot' the weight of the latter. y

The water can be introduced into the paper only after the latter has been waterproofed. If the water be first introduced, then the fabric cannot afterward be properly saturated with the waterproofing liquor, and any attempt to do so will expel or drive oif the water from the paper.

percentage of water into the waterproof paper can be employed, and the water may be introduced either before or after, or both before and after, the waterproof paper has been put up in a roll without departure from my invention.

In the accompanying drawing,to which reference will now be made, I have represented, to a great extent diagrammatically, a simple form of apparatus which can be used in producing one known kind of rooting fabric treated in accordance with my invention, for which purpose in the present instance there is used a water bath, through which the paper is drawn after it has been waterproofed and before it has been put up in a roll.

In this apparatus,l is a roll of dry fabric to be treated. The web of fabric passes succeswax, thence over a drier or heater 3, thence between rolls 4, which take od'some of the surplus waterproofing material, thence into a second h ot pan 5, in which there is more hot oil or wax, and thence between pressurel Various means of introducing the desired sively into and through .a pan 2 of hot oil or ICO rolls 6, Which remove all the surplus waterproofing material from the surface of the web. rlhis completes the Waterproofing operation, and heretofore the waterproofed fabric has been conducted directly from the rollers 6 to a stand, where it is wound into a comn pleted roll 8, which is put up for the market in the usual way. Under my invention, however, the waterproofed fabric is conducted into and through a water-bath '7,where it takes up the percentage of moisture requisite to effectuate the purposes of my invention, and from that bath it is wound into a roll, as at 8. This waterproofed water-treated roll of fabric is then packed up for commercial purposes in the usual way.

In the case of other varieties of waterproofed roofing fabric-as, for example, roofing-paper saturated and coated with asphalt-` Vthe same mode of procedure is followed. The web of dry paper is conducted to and through the successive baths of hot asphaltum liquor, by which it is saturated and coated, and between the customary rollers for removing the surplus and for aiding in the coating, and is then sprinkled with soapstone, as usual. Then after the waterproofing operation is completed the web is subjected to the action of water, as hereinbefore provided, in such a Way that it may take up and absorb the de sired percentage of moisture.

Having described my in vention and the best way now known to me of carrying the same into effect,what I claim herein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. Theimprovement in the manufacture of Waterproof roofing-paper which consists in first waterproofing the paper, and then subjecting the same to the action of water, to take up and retain a portion thereof, substan tially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth. Y

2. The improvement in the manufacture of waterproof roolng-paper which consists in rst waterproofing the paper, then subjecting the waterproofed paper to the action of water, to take up and retain a portion thereof, and then putting up the same in roll form, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

3. The improvementin the manufacture of waterproof rooting-paper which consists in first waterproofing the paper, and thendrawing the waterproofed paper'through a bath of water, to take up and retain a portion thereof, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

4. As a new article of manufacture, water-V proofed roofing-paper,water-treated to retain a portion thereof, substantially as hereinbefore set forth. 4

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of October, 1901.

CHARLES S. BIRD.

Witnesses:

HENRI E. DAVENPORT, W. R. McNEIL. 

